"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"(Tom
             Hanks, (Forrest Gump). This quote symbolizes a lot in people don't get to choose what
             They are given; they have to work with what they have. This is the case in literature as
             Well as in life for those who live with an idiot savant syndrome. Forrest Gump, Raymond
             Babbit, and real-life savant Alonzo Clemons all deal with the fact they are not the same as everyone else. Though dealt certain mental deficiencies, idiot savants, whether fictional or real, all excel in some aspect of their lives.
             Idiot savant, is a term that is defined as "a mentally defective person with an exceptional skill or talent in a special field" (Random House 951). Dr. J. London first described the syndrome in 1887, who also had described Downs Syndrome years earlier. He found that an idiot savant has a highly developed ability to play music or to solve complex math equations at great speeds. Savants usually have an IQ of above forty this would usually insure only moderate mental retardation, not severe as one might think.
             The mental handicap of a savant can be described as autism or mental retardation. These skills exist within a very narrow range of human abilities. ( Squire 573). One in every two-thousand idiot savants occurs in an institutionalized mentally retarded person. One in ten are found in autistic people. Savants usually live within the care of others, in some cases they are able to live on their own, but not usually. Savants have been divided into two main categories in the last years, talented savants and prodigious savants. "A talented savant has remarkable skills simply because savants are in direct contrast with the handicap the savant suffers."(Squire 573)
             "A prodigious savant, however, has abilities so spectacular that they would be spectacular even if they occurred in a normal functioning person. Since the last poll done in 1995 by San Diego Med...